A Bengaluru-based CEO has sparked a heated online debate after announcing that his company will no longer hire male candidates from four Indian states, citing a lengthy internal discussion and disagreement over the decision.
A Bengaluru-based CEO has sparked a heated online debate after announcing that his company will no longer hire male candidates from four Indian states, citing a lengthy internal discussion and disagreement over the decision. Karthik Shenoy, CEO of A1 Sports World, announced the company’s stated hiring policy in a post on X and wrote, “I'm sorry for this, But today we have made it very clear after lengthy discussion and quarrel.”
He then outlined the policy, writing, “We will not hire any male candidates in our company who come from these four states in north India,” before naming Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Shenoy also referred to an existing employee from Rajasthan, adding, “We do have 1 Rajasthani already working for us. She has 100% supposed this.”
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The announcement quickly drew criticism online, with several users questioning whether the policy amounted to generalising about male candidates based solely on their state of origin.
One user argued that while the sentiment behind Shenoy’s post might be understandable, applying such reasoning broadly could effectively mean treating every man from the four states as a potential creep.
Another user pointed out that people from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh already work across major technology companies, arguing that the CEO’s stance amounted to a sweeping generalisation.
A third user questioned the basis for dividing candidates by state, asking which states could be considered free from crimes against women if current affairs and crime reports were used to justify such a hiring decision.
